An award-winning Manchester social media video production agency is the first of its kind to create interactive GIFs specifically for Instagram Stories, in turn attracting a staggering 35 million views globally for several Greater Manchester and UK businesses.
Fraggell Productions devised the pioneering GIF imagery, which is uploaded directly onto Instagram Stories, to help regional brands reach more of the platform’s users organically, employing targeted messaging to directly translate into increased awareness and recognition.
Fraggell Productions, based in Denton, has so far designed the GIFs for Northern Quarter restaurant Black Milk, Manchester coding bootcamp Northcoders and 304 Clothing, in Birmingham, which have all been positively received, so far notching up more than 35 million views worldwide. The most successful of the series, which urged people to use the Swipe Up function to take them directly to a company website, sparked 20 million views worldwide overnight.
Twenty-three-year-old Fraser Cottrell, Creative Director for Fraggell Productions, says: “We’re the only agency to create this kind of GIF. We did so by placing the emphasis on weaving stylish visuals with personalised narratives, tailoring the results to fully capitalise on the Instagram Stories offering. We’re delighted to be able to carve a niche in the industry in this way, all while supporting and raising the profile of brands across Greater Manchester and the UK.
“This is because we recognise that the ways in which people digest and respond to what they see on social media are constantly changing and evolving. Sophisticated video content that quickly grabs the user’s attention, while conveying key brand messages, is essential. We’re confident that our GIFs succinctly achieve this.
“In fact, we’re overwhelmed that each of the GIFs have been viewed several million times apiece, while generating positive feedback. This proves that they’re resonating strongly with their intended audiences.”
The businesses that Fraggell Productions works with have so far enjoyed an uplift in their Instagram account engagement rates, alongside a subsequent drive in website traffic and overall logo recognition, with some examples featuring on the front page of Instagram’s trending GIFs.
The shareable GIFs, which run for an average of 15 seconds and are aimed at 18 to 24-year-olds, feature a selection of tools that encourage user engagement, including custom illustrations, polls, Q&As and geotags. Fraggell Productions liaises closely with its clients to devise a concept, before designing and executing the final video imagery, a process that takes an average of one week.
Andy Young, Managing Director of Black Milk, adds: “The value of having another creative to bounce off cannot be understated. Although we do most of our marketing in-house, Fraggell Productions has really helped us on specific, ad hoc tasks. Turnaround from ideas to action was rapid and our guests started using the GIFs immediately and without prompting.
“We foresee Instagram Stories becoming our dominant marketing platform in 2019. Fraggell has helped us refine our brand identity in this critical channel through the use of GIFs for a variety of geotags and the crucial Swipe Up function, which allows revenue to be directly attributed to their use. We plan to extend to a full range in the immediate future.”
Fraggell Productions, which was set up by Fraser and Technical Director Nicholas Beddows, aged 23, when the pair finished at Ashton Sixth Form College aged 18, employs a mix of modern and traditional video skills to deliver personalised digital projects to global brands including Barclaycard, Saint Laurent and Gap.
